Valve Files Trademark for Half-Life 3 in Europe (Yes, Really)

Posted on October 1, 2013 4:16 PM by Rob Williams

In a bit of news I don’t find all-too-surprising, Valve has just filed a trademark in Europe for the name “Half-Life 3″. What actually might be surprising is the fact that it took the company so long, as even if Valve were to never produce another Half-Life game, it’d want to avoid the hassles of someone trying to get away with using the name.

On that note, is it just me, or is it a little odd that companies need to file separate trademark requests just to add a number after a name they already claimed under the same category?

“What do you mean Episode Three isn’t out yet?“

Regardless, Valve chose a ridiculous time to file this trademark, as after the stringof announcementslast week, many fans were annoyed that once again, this mysterious game wasn’t revealed.

At this point, the last Half-Life game came out almost exactly 6 years ago, in the form of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It was widely anticipated that Valve would follow-up to that game about 9 months – 1 year later, as was originally discussed, but it never happened. It’s been clear for a while that Episode Three just isn’t going to happen, but what is, is Half-Life 3, which is likely to continue off where Episode Two left us. And with the Source 2 engine well underway in development, I can’t imagine a better way to finally release a follow-up to the series.

Why is it every time I talk about Half-Life, I feel like playing through the entire series again?